All They Need

“I did, I swear. My mother’s housekeeper swore her grandmother used to do it and got bumper crops.”

“And?”

“I think I should have gone for one of the comedies instead of the Scottish play.”

Mel’s laugh was loud and heartfelt.

Flynn grinned, then checked his watch. “Whoa. It’s nearly eleven. I’d better get going. I’m supposed to be doing the final inspection on Summerlea.”

“You bought it? Oh, wow.”

Usually the local grapevine was good for gossip, but she hadn’t heard a whisper about the old estate being sold so she’d simply assumed that Flynn and Hayley had walked away from their inspection unimpressed.

“It’s going to be a money pit, but I couldn’t let Edna Walling’s last great design slip through my fingers.”

Mel couldn’t hide her surprise. It was one thing to know how to transplant a tree, but to know the name of a long-dead, highly influential garden designer took his interest in gardening to a whole new level.

“What’s wrong? Having visions of polo ponies again?” he asked wryly.

“No.”

But he was right—she was. Mel was the first to admit she had some pretty set ideas about what people with money were like. She’d learned them firsthand at the feet of her husband and her in-laws. She’d seen the hypocrisy, the judgment, the insularity. She’d absorbed the politics, the values, the social mores. She knew where women of a certain income bracket liked to shop, who they allowed to cut their hair, how they preferred to keep their bodies lean and slim. She knew where the men lunched, the football clubs they supported, the charities they were happy to fund in return for a piece of the glory.

She’d assumed Flynn was like the rest of them, but apparently she’d assumed wrong.

He checked his watch again. “I’d really better get going.”

“I’ll walk you up.” It was the least she could do after he’d saved her considerable effort and offered her what was clearly expert advice.

They walked side by side in silence. Mel wracked her brain for something innocuous to say, but the edgy feeling was back now they didn’t have the task of transplanting the orange tree to occupy them. She snuck a look at him out of the corner of her eye but he seemed perfectly at ease.

“I can give you your key now if you’d like,” she said. “Save you from having to collect it later.”

“Sure, if that makes life easier for you.”

“I was trying to make life easier for you.”

They were approaching the house and Flynn stooped to collect his jacket and sweater. He washed his hands on the garden tap at the bottom of the stairs as she raced into the house to grab the keys.

“You’re not in Red Coat this time, I’m sorry. I had a previous booking, so you’re in Tea Cutter, the cottage we passed on the way to plant the tree,” she said as she descended the steps to rejoin him.

“I noticed there was another car in the parking lot. Interlopers.”

She smiled at his small joke and handed the key over. “Good luck with your inspection. When do you take possession?”

“Next weekend.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You don’t muck around.”

“You know what they say, life’s short. It suited the vendors to have the sale go through quickly and it suited me.”

He pulled his car keys from his jeans pocket and she realized she was holding him up.

“Take notes on the orchard grove for me.” She took a backward step to signal she was letting him go. “I’m basing my new orchard on memories of my last visit to Summerlea so I might quiz you on it later.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you admitting to shamelessly ripping off my new garden’s design, Ms. Porter?”

“Um…yes?”

He laughed. “I’ll take some photos for you.” He turned to go, then swung back. “Unless you want to come to the inspection with me?”

It was her turn to laugh. “Sure. I could give you advice on your renovations. Tell you how a pro would do it.”

“I’m serious. I’d actually appreciate hearing your opinion.”

He was sincere, she could see it in his face. Once she got past her surprise, her first impulse was to say no—she’d gotten into the habit of saying no to a lot of things during her marriage, for a number of reasons—but it had been ten years since she’d seen the gardens at Summerlea. It would be beyond helpful to see how Edna Walling had designed the orchard and how the garden had matured.

Mel hesitated for a moment, then caught sight of her muddy jeans. She was caked from the knees down, her sweater blotched with yet more muck. The Lord only knew what was going on with her hair—something bad, she suspected, because it rarely behaved itself.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m not really fit to be seen in public right now.”

She indicated her muddy clothes.

“It’ll only be me and the real estate agent. No film crews or paparazzi.”

She opened her mouth to issue another polite excuse.

“All right. If I wouldn’t be in the way,” she heard herself say. “I’d love to come.”

“Do you need to lock up?”

“I do. I won’t be a tick.”

She went into the house to secure the front door and grab her house keys, and all the while a voice in her head screamed at her to go back and tell him no, thank you, and send him on his way. The voice told her he was simply being polite, that he couldn’t possibly really want her tagging along, that even if they’d had a perfectly nice, perfectly normal conversation, she was bound to say or do something wrong because that was what she always did.

She ignored it, because it was her husband’s voice, and her mission over the past twelve months had been to get him out of her head now that she’d gotten him out of her life.

An ongoing challenge, obviously. But she was getting there.

Coat in hand, she pulled the door closed behind her and started down the stairs. “I’m ready.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME you saw Summerlea?” Flynn asked as he reversed out of the driveway.

Mel glanced at the man sitting beside her. “I guess about ten years. I attended the last open garden weekend they held.”

“Really? So did I.” He shot her a speculative look and she knew he was wondering if they’d crossed paths all those years ago.